A travel advisory was issued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights organization that urged the immigrants and people of colour to be extremely cautious when travelling to Florida.
The state could have their constitutional rights violated and was on the verge of passing a draconian anti-immigrant bill which will be endangering their communities according to ACLU.
To protect undocumented immigrants the bills the state legislature was considering was aimed at sanctuary policies.
To limit cooperation Sanctuary cities like New York and San Francisco were instituting policies to limit cooperation with the as New York and San Francisco with federal immigration enforcement agencies like the ICE.
According to the Florida’s Senate Bill 168 and House Bill 527 seek to prohibit local and state governmental entities from implementing sanctuary policies.
It will further force cooperation with federal immigration authorities and the legislation would mandate that agencies send requested information to federal authorities.
The ACLU warned Florida that the bills would result in an irreparable human cost and expose counties and other government entities to potential legal and financial liabilities by forcing local authorities to comply with ICE’s flawed detainer system.
Thomas Kennedy, the political director at the Florida Immigration Coalition said that it was shameful that the state of Florida seeks to further harass immigrant communities and erode public safety.
He went on saying that the by taking precious local resources away from law enforcement to further target Floridian families for deportation comes at an extremely high financial and moral cost.
The Florida lawmakers were pushing for anti-immigrant policies and the insidious attacks against the immigrants on the national level were being amplified.
Senator Joe Gruters, the sponsor of the senate bill said that the they talked about fear mongering and upping the rhetoric even more…that’s one way to do it.ACLU’s travel advisory was tagged by him as “borderline race-baiting,” which was “misguided at best.
The bill was about protecting the rule of the law and deals with criminal illegal aliens. Those who are not breaking the law should have no worries.
Earlier, President Donald Trump has lashed out at sanctuary cities and signed an executive order. This was later struck down by a federal court to withhold funding.There have been contentious discussion across the country regarding sanctuary cities and compliance with immigration authorities.
